Regensburg - Munich, Octoberfest and the Bomb Scare
October 1st, Wednesday
This morning, we arrived in Regensburg to a beautiful sunrise. Our excursion today takes LeRoy and Vialula into Munich. We generally prefer the smaller towns to the cities but are excited to see this city that is a product of so many days of yore, from its founding in 1158 AD to medieval times in the 14th and 15th centuries to 1806 when it became the capital of the Kingdom of Bavaria to the 1900's with the World Wars.
BMW HQ and museum
BMW's iX5 pilot hydrogen car - only 400,000 Euros
Entering the dealership
1972 Official Olympic BMW
After making our wish lists for Christmas, we moved on towards Munich. Incidentally, right behind the dealership was the iconic Olympic Village building from 1972 where the massacre of the Israeli athletes occurred. A very somber sight. Vi couldn't get a photo but we could see the symbolic Olympiaturm below from 1972. It also still stands.
Olympiaturm 1972
As we were headed to the city center, we passed a sign pointing the way to Dachau. Our little group of eleven grew somber as we saw that sign. Dachau was the longest running concentration camp, and it served as the prototype/model for the other camps. Our guides in Germany have all been very sensitive to WWII history and always refer to "The Nazis or the Gestapo" rather than "The Germans" ... our guides have all agreed that "we and the world can never let it happen again".
It brought to mind Vialula's biology teacher in high school, Coach Jimmy Gentry, who was from our hometown of Franklin. He was a young man serving in the 42nd Infantry Division during WWII and was with the first troops to discover and arrive at Dachau. To learn more about Coach Gentry's experience, please click here. His witness is difficult to imagine but gives a very informative and poignant account of April 29, 1945.
In our group today, we had some who were going to Octoberfest which runs from September 20th to October 5th. Munich is the home of Octoberfest, and can trace its beginning to the wedding celebration of Crown Prince Ludgwig and Princess Therese. It now attracts six million people to Munich every year! Our chef and crew has an Octoberfest scheduled on our ship soon. Got to find some lederhosen!
Some of us were going to the Glockenspiel in the Old Town part of Munich and then on to lunch at the Rathskeller under the Glockenspiel. No sooner had we exited the bus, and standing in the shadow of the statue of King Ludwig I, all our phones began to go off with a city-wide alert. We didn't know what it said, it was in German, but it was a serious announcement as our guide, Rupert, went pale and started fumbling over his words.
Rupert, our guide
Ludwig I, King of Bavaria
As news unfolded in the afternoon, we learned that a bomb had detonated in Northern Munich, and that there was some evidence that pointed to Octoberfest perhaps being a target as well. Immediately, Octoberfest was closed and searched, and all the lederhosen-wearing tourists were hanging out with us in the Old Town. It made our guides (& Viking) a little nervous, but we moved carefully on.
Theatiner Church of St. Cajetan & Adelaide
a beautiful baroque church in Odeonsplatz, Munich
the beautiful altar
We had to hurriedly make our way from the church to the Mariensplatz Square where the Glockenspiel in the New Hall Town building was about to strike 12:00 noon. The Glockenspiel performs at 11:00, 12:00 and 5:00 every day. Everyone in the square was so excited to see this remarkable clock go off! It is a large mechanical clock that portrays various events in Bavarian history. The wedding of Duke Wilhelm V to Renata of Lorraine is represented as well as a jousting tournament. At the end, a golden rooster comes out and crows three times to let us know the show is over! It is quite something to see!
the Glockenspiel
After the incredible performance of the Glockenspiel, we were ushered over to Der Ratskellar restaurant, where a traditional Bavarian meal awaited us. It included a ground veal stuffed cabbage roll and mashed potatoes and the best apple strudel we've had yet!!! LeRoy had his beer of the day, a Lowenbrau!
Der Ratskeller
Cabbage roll
Rupert came at the end of the meal and advised us to enjoy our apple strudel which had just been delivered, and take our time, but we had 8 whole minutes to be outside! Haha! There was an increased police presence as we continued our walk back towards the bus. Rupert did a great job keeping us informed of the news of the day whilst continuing our tour.
Munich Old Town Hall
Police were very present
After being hurriedly rushed out of Munich, our guides took us to Befreiungshalle (Hall of Liberation) in Kelheim. This monument was very close to where we were to meet the ship, and it overlooks the town of Kelheim.
The Hall of Liberation is a neoclassical monument built by our old friend, King Ludwig I of Bavaria to commemorate the victory over Napoleon in the Befruingskriege (The War of Liberation) of 1813-1815. (Spell that twice in a row!)
a view of the old canal - our Viking ship cannot fit this one!
The rotunda is made of Kelheim limestone and is adorned on the outside with 18 statues that represent the 18 Germanic tribes that took part in the battles.
The inside of the hall is beautiful and has 35 statues of goddessess, each one different and beautiful, joining hands in a solemn victory dance. They are made of white marble from Tyrol. In the center of the marble floor, the inscription reads, "May the Germans never forget what made necessary the Struggle for Freedom and by what means they won."
Of course, Vialula wanted to go to the top, so up, up, up we climbed 165 steps. The view overlooking the river and the town were spectacular!
our ship will be arriving here shortly
After our improvised afternoon, our ship picked us up riverside in Kelheim. This is something that is very different from our previous ocean cruises. Lots of times, the Viking Vali will drop us off at one point and pick us up on up the river where they have sailed through locks to save time and meet our tour buses.
All in all, today was a good day. The Octoberfest bomb scare was a little disconcerting, but we never felt unsafe. Viking and our guides did a great job taking care of us. It's ok, Mom.
Vialula & LeRoy
Comments
Post a Comment